Once
by last-world-wonder
Summary: Got bored, started writing, needed study break. First story. Not very good, but try reading it, send me your criticisms. Based off nothing I could find on here.
1. Chapter 1

As the pristine condition, red, vintage VW rolled up her dusty driveway, Annie allowed herself a small smile. Cam had always had far too much pride in his old fixed up vehicles. Knowing his tastes for excess, it was likely that he had at least 2 more of the same back home. "Collectors items" is what he called them, but Annie knew that Cam was just another hoarder, with a really big house and a whole lot of money put away in some fancy bank account overseas so that no one dared disapprove. The car pulled to a screeching halt, dust spattering the bright green grass on either side, gravel spitting at Annie's smooth white legs. Cam stretched his long legs luxuriously as he exited the car, the few streaks of grey in his black hair becoming evident at his temples. He reached up to wipe a bit of shimmering sweat off his proud high forehead, blocking the sun reflecting off his grass green eyes, where Annie still caught a glitter of mischief as he gave her a large little boy grin, like a two year old who'd just been caught with his hand stuck in the cookie jar.

"Hey Annie." He said. The afternoon sun blazed in the sky, scorching the land, slowing down time so that it seemed like an hour had passed in the seconds it took for Annie to reply:

"Hello Cameron." As if time had rewound itself 25 years, and Noah had never existed at all.

2 weeks earlier

Kady's Mama sat on the phone, her legs dangling off the kitchen stool. The sunlight arced it's way through the huge windows reflecting off her golden hair which was placed in loose curls about her face. Her brow that was knitted into a tight frown, distorting her delicate features.

"Cam?" Her voice was raw, hoarse, but there was a small lilt of excitement at the end of that one small word.

Kady herself frowned, running her small hands through the hair she had inherited from her mama, her emerald eyes ablaze with curiosity. She did not recognize the deep rumbling voice on the other end of the phone that had asked for her mama so roughly, telling Kady she better hurry the hell up. Kady prickled at the memory, unhappy with the idea that she had allowed anyone talk to her in such an undignified matter, but his voice had been so urgent, so desperate, that she'd only handed the phone over silently.

Kady's mama had never told her about a man named Cam before, and she'd certainly never known her to speak with him. As far back as Kady remembered, Mama rarely spoke to any men at all unless she absolutely had to.

Kady also didn't like the way her mama was uncharacteristically frowning, nor the tone she took when she spoke to this man, worried, and a bit ashamed of herself.

"It's been a while and a bit, hasn't it?" She seemed almost pleased for a half second, until an ominous rumbling sounded through the phone. Mama's face quickly turned back into an expression of concern.

"Look, you know... You know why I-"

The man's voice smoothly and assuredly cut mama off mid sentence. The tones were curt, urgent, as if he were trying to get to the heart of the matter.

rumble rumble. Pause. Rumble. Longer pause. Rumble, rumble rumble. It was almost like a song.

"Hey, look now, you can't just call up like this and-"

The voice interjected once more, lilting and rumbling away.

mama sighed, obviously growing annoyed with being cut off.

"Would you-"

Rumb-

"Could you-"

-le

"Plea-"

A quiet growl

"You should understand why! I mean look at you and-"

He spoke loudly enough Kady could hear the words clearly.

"That's a bit different, don't you think! She wasn't just some stranger thrown into the mix!" To Kady's shock and surprise her mama snorted, an unladylike sound that she had already lectured Kady on about a million and one times.

"A lady would do her best not to remind others of certain grotesque and unruly farm animals." Kady muttered under her breath, quoting her mother who had not heard her, but had continued on with her conversation instead.

"Not a stranger? In what way?"

The rumbling grew pedantic and explanatory.

"That's hardly an acquaint-"

He kept on going

"Don't interrupt me!" her mother cried out, and then, sighing, slightly apologetic,

"Look, I'm sor-"

A loud, fierce animal Growl let forth on the other side of the phone for several seconds, and Kady flinched.

"No, you will not do as you damn well please! I dare say _you_ called _me_! _Not_ the other way around!"

The Growl was nearly set loose again, but as Kady leaned forward, eyes widening, her mother took a deep breath and went on:

"And I will not be told to shut up, or be told to hold on just a second, and I will not be made to laugh, or cry, I will not allow you to assassinate my character as if I've in fact done anything wrong! Tell me, in what way could I have been less cruel? Obviously you know what's what. You know exactly how I could have done things differently so that he would not have been miserable! Could you please tell me? Explain, how! Simply tell me, straight up, so I can go on spending a lovely afternoon with my daughter."

The growl turned to a sigh, then a small sad lull of a rumble, with a sudden choking and a question mark at the end.

"Yes, it happens generally when two people have decided to procreate. Who did you think answered the phone?" She frowned, waiting for his response, letting out a small smile of pride at his answer, but bit it back before it could become anything more.

Rumble?

"Yes, she heard everything."

"Mumble. Choke, sigh, mumble."

"Cam says he's sorry Kady." Kady jerked at the sound of her name.

"I should forgive him I suppose. Although I don't know the man particularly well, and I don't think I'd like him very much at all if I did" Kady said petulantly, speaking loudly and clearly, so that the man at the other end could hear every word, every syllable. Savoring the thought of his unhappy reaction on the other end.

"I might even suspect that I'd hate him a bit"

To her surprise a long deep laugh sounded at the other end, it seemed almost pleased.

The chagrined sounding rumble started up, growing explanatory, and then almost sad. Her mother's head snapped up, and she let out a small cry, but waited, and waited until the rumbling had finished.

"How could that have happened?"

Kady jerked at the strangeness of the hoarse tone.

"No. i don't believe you" She brought her hands to her face in despair.

The rumbling grew explanatory, going on for several minutes as Kady watched with rapt fascination her mother's torso seemingly beginning to shrink as she slowly curled up, her face crumbling as it grew paler and paler. Kady wanted to fling her arms around her mother, to make it better, but she did not know how.

"I'm so sorry, you have no... no idea. There was so much I left..."

"No, you don't know. Maybe..." And then she let out a half a sob, a horrid sound, a choked wail quickly cut off.

"Look, I can't, I need to-"

A glistening at the corner of Mama's right eye, but she was determinedly keeping it in, holding her breath, willing it not

to fall.

"I just.."

The man's voice rumbled on.

"I have to go"

"No!" His voice reverberated through the room, and for a few seconds there was no sound. The man spoke for a few minutes, and then asked a question.

"No, he's away for another month at least."

The man sighed, Kady could practically imagine the headache, the rubbing at the temples. He let out a long sigh, words mixing and mingling within.

Mama, was already beginning to smooth her features back, but whatever the man had said made her face become stiff, yet still smoothly she replied:

"You can come out here, I'll do it. It's the least I can do. To make up for things."

The rumbling changed tone and her Mama's features were blushed a mottled pink but her tone remained even.

"You know that isn't true. I cared too, perhaps more."

A few seconds passed and Mama let out a loud sigh.

"Look, just come if you want to. You know where I'm at." She sounded defeated, but she'd placed her shoulders high.

She put the phone gently down into the receiver, looking around the whitewashed and sunny kitchen. _Looking for an escape route_. Kady thought.

"Kady" mama breathed, her hand splayed out as if to grab her daughter for support.

"Mama, who was he?" She asked.

"He was.. he was no one, just an old friend from high school." Mama's voice was coming out shrill, but she was slowly calming it.

"Mama, please, what's wrong?" Kady asked, growing anxious at her mother's strange mood. Obviously the phone call had upset her, but the wicked man could not be the only one to blame, Mama had dealt with many unkind, horrid people in Kady's lifetime without falling to pieces. But as to the subject matter of the conversation she could not guess what would be at the root of it.

"It's nothing darling, Mama just received some bad news is all. Look, I'll just be in my room for a little while, okay? That's all I need."

Mama walked through the oak door leading into her room, but before she shut it she turned to say one last thing, her blue eyes locking on to Kady's green one's irresistibly,

"Don't tell Daddy. This is our little secret, alright?" Kady's jaw nearly dropped. never, in all her life had her mama kept a secret from Daddy. Even when Kady had begged her, about any little thing, a boy she liked, a missed assignment, a scrape with the neighbors, Mama insisted on telling Daddy everything. It seemed unfair now that some strange man with a soft lilting voice came along her mother could keep secrets all she wanted? The complete reason for Kady's dis-ease she kept even from herself.

_Didn't that man sound seductive? With a voice like that a man could get a woman to do anything._

A few hours passed, the evening sun turning the sky red and the fields gold. The June air cooled enough that Kady

shivered in her small dress, and finally, Mama ventured out of her room, eyes no longer red, but still slightly puffy, hair loose and disheveled, her arms crossed over as if to protect herself. She had changed into a flowing white dress, as if to renew herself and her soul. If she was wearing a different outfit, had the rest of the day really happened?

"I suppose you'd like to know what's going on my girl?" She said, sitting at the table, and pointing at the seat across to indicate that she'd like Kady to sit.

"I suppose I would." Kady said, resting herself within the seat.

"Well you see, my old friend, Cameron, called me up today with some very bad news." Kady waited for her Mama to flinch, or sigh, but she managed to maintain an impassive demeanor, as if the very bad news was really not any news at all.

Mama went on:

"He's decided that he'd like to come down and visit, so that we can settle a few things between us that were never laid to rest, and I decided that may be for the best. So in about 2 weeks, you and him will be meeting, and even though you've made it clear you dislike him based on first impression alone I expect you to keep a civil tongue in your head."

Kady looked up, shocked, Mama was allowing a strange man over without daddy even being there? She supposed she must keep _that _a secret as well?

"Now, I want you to be on your best behavior Kady. This man will find every reason to pick me and my life apart, he'll want every excuse to prove that he knows right, and that the path that fate set out for me is wrong.

"Why?"

Mama shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

"Well, I suppose he's never forgiven me."

"Forgiven you for what?"

Mama sighed, and there was a small ripple in her features, the smallest bit of nostalgia creeping through her gaze.

"For marrying the wrong man."


	2. Chapter 2

12 years earlier Annie sat in the bridal room, admiring her unveiled face in the mirror. She looked beautiful, perfect down to the last detail. She smiled, her lips lined blood red, two strands of honey blonde curls framing her twinkling sapphire eyes, the rest pulled back into a tight chignon.  
Her white satin dress was tight at the bodice, hugging her thin waist, leading into an orgy of white skirts. It was how she'd always imagined herself on her wedding day. She fingered the glass of golden champagne in her smooth pale hand, her index caressing the rim, travelling down the stem, stroking, expert as a lover. She took a small giddy sip, and then calmed herself,  
looking into the mirror and smoothing her features one by one. First the brow, then the eyes, then the mouth and the set of her chin. It would not do to be anything other than the picture of decorum today.  
The champagne frothed merrily against her lips, caressing her mouth, teasing it's way down her throat, like poison. She raised herself slowly, heavy in the overbearing dress, nearly knocking over the splendid satin chair she had occupied. Hands shaking, she moved it to a small corner of the room, out of her way as she began to pace, up and down, up and down for several minutes until there was a soft but firm knock at the door relieving Annie from her momentary discomfort. She moved to the door and flung it open, grinning hugely before she could help it. Suddenly flinging her arms wide, Annie hugged her sister.  
"My God, Ava, you made it!" She cried out, so happy she nearly wept.  
Her sister hugged her back warmly, giving Annie some of the comfort she needed on that day.  
"I nearly couldn't, just with work, Jason, and you know how David is. Luckily, he decided to come. I really wanted to be hear, I mean, you came for mine." Annie smiled at the thought of her sister Ava's wedding to David, two year old Jason playing the role of the ring bearer.  
"I heard you only had two more bridesmaids? What happened to the rest of your friends?" Annie frowned at her older sisters creased look of concern. How did she explain to her sister, her lovely sister who had several of her closest friends at her own wedding, each insanely jealous of Annie's place as the maid of honor, basking in her sister's radiant presence as they usually did. How did she explain that she herself only had the two friends, Kadence and Vicky, who had only reluctantly come. How did she tell her sister that none of the groomsmen were willing to come, in protest of the fact that they thought that the groom himself had been tricked into marrying a vixen, a temptress who would use him for everything he had to offer.  
"They just... they were the only ones I wanted to come." Annie said, catching herself before she looked down, refusing to indicate her shame.  
Her sister nodded in understanding.  
"I see, you wanted a small wedding. That makes sense, me and David were considering a small wedding, but you know how it is, we invited one person, and in fear that we'd hurt someone's feelings we'd have to invite another and another, till, what do you know? We have a wedding list a couple hundred people long!" Annie nodded vaguely in sympathy at her sister's widely gesticulating arms, trying unsuccessfully to quell the nasty little worm of jealousy creeping through her heart and her stomach. No one had wanted to come to her wedding. Mother had refused, and Pop, well, he had very nearly done the same she realized, but he knew how it would devestate her so.  
Ava scowled suddenly, as if she knew what Annie had been thinking.  
" I cannot believe that your mother would refuse to come. Even if she did disagree, it's disgraceful, simply disgraceful."  
"Well I suspect she's like everyone else and assumes I'm using him." Annie said.  
Ava shook her head vehemently, wild red curls that she'd inherited from her mother shaking vigorously. "Even my mama thinks it's disgusting, she was going to come, but then she had her accident."  
Annie cringed when she thought of her poor 'Aunt' Katie, who had fallen down her stairs and had, had to go in for hip replacement surgery.  
"How's she doing?"  
"Well, you know, she says she's well, but you know she'd never admit anything's wrong." Annie gave a small soft smile at the thought of her stubborn, brave, sweet auntie. Growing up Aunt Katie had been the one Annie liked to go to with her dilemnas and her joys. It had been her aunt who'd played in the backyard with Katie and Ava, and who'd read them too sleep. It had been her who'd fought with their father, instead of the ongoing silence that permeated from Annie's mother's room. Her mother always kept closed lips about why this beautiful, stubborn women always hung about with her father, far too intimate to be a sister, fighting him, challenging him, and always, Annie imagined, loving him, perhaps too much, because finally, one day, Auntie Kate had cracked with her inability to remain as her father's mistress, moving miles away and leaving Annie alone without the familiar comfort of a sister and her warm ideal of a mother, even though she'd begged them to take her with them.  
Annie wouldn't speak to anyone for months after that.  
"I really miss her." Annie sighed."Is it okay if we visit her after the wedding?"  
"Of course!" Ava cried out, her face luminescent with joy. "She'd be mad as hell if you didn't, don't you know?" Annie flung her arms around her sisters neck and sighed.  
"Thank you" She said, "It means more than I can describe."  
And so they sat, until Annie bid her sister goodbye. A sudden desperate blackness clawing through her so that she needed to be by herself, choking on it alone.  
Ava left, not reluctantly, heading off to see to her child before the ceremony. Annie watched her with a pure green envy that she chose to ignore.

Annie stared in the mirror guiltily, the blackness ripping her stomach in half.  
"You are a traitor" She said to her reflection.  
"You are a whore." She sighed, the blackness murmuring pleasurably inside of her.  
"You're friends turned their backs on you, and maybe you deserved it. But ,maybe, if you're lucky, it will all be worth it." She sighed again as the blackness ebbed and faded, but still, old hurts and doubts remained. Perhaps old love just never could die away completely. Maybe it held on, clutching at you like a strange disfigurement, indefinitley, simply growing easier to ignore as time went by, until, suddenly, your attention was riveted upon it's ugliness once again, and all the old hurt ,and shame, and disappointment welled up once more. She sighed, the breath seeming to carry her spirit with it.  
How could this have happened to her? How could she have allowed herself to cause so much misery, in such a short period of time?  
Annie gazed out the window, lost in her black, guilty thoughts, so at first she didn't hear the light masculine tread.  
There was a knock at the door, on automatic, Annie opened it, and it took her a few seconds to register who was on the other side. The moment she did, she promptly attempted to slam the door shut.  
Cam rushed in, clapping his hand to Annie's lips before she could cry out. For a moment she stood still, unable to breathe or concentrate on anything but the old sweet scent of Cam. Her precious Cam. He turned her round, his hands resting on the bare flesh of her shoulders, his eyes delving into hers, begging silently for something she refused to acknowledge and could not give.  
"Oh Annie." He sighed her name sweetly, his breath brushing her cheek lightly, moving past the soft skin of her neck and leaving chills in it's path.  
"Cam?" Annie said weakly, his name barely a whimper. "Why are you here?" He stroked her arm softly, but his face was rough, desperate. He rested his other hand, soft and long fingered in a light caress against her cheek.  
"You can't marry him Annie. I won't let you." He said softly, eyes roaming restlessly across her body.  
Annie shook her head roughly, regaining her senses and taking a quick jump back. Cam's arms fell as he tried to grasp for a hold, stumbling at her sudden movement.  
"I'll marry who I please, Cam." Cam moved closer to her, daring her to take another step backwards, challenging her. She took a step to the side, he following her movement. They circled around one another like boxers thrust into the ring, before she stopped, her face thrust upwards in defiance. Cam leaned close, trapping her with the scent of his aftershave and sweat, and the sweet minty scent of the nicotine gum he'd been chewing.  
"Why would you let this happen? How can you marry him?"  
"He wants me, and I need him."  
"And does he please you, this man? Will he love you so fiercely? Will he hold you tenderly so the bad dreams go away? Will he kiss you soft to make you sigh? How can this man be so special, when all the gifts of love were laid before you, begging to be taken by you and used by you? How could this man possibly please you when you had everything that he was, and more laid at your feet, a lamb ready to the slaughter?" His voice was soft, but fiercely angry. His breath was rough, and his face was only inches from her own.  
"Who have you come for Cam?" Annie asked.  
"What do you mean?" He said, his voice an angry snarl.  
"I mean have you come for my father? I know he disapproves. Have you come for me? For I have said time and time again how happy I-"  
"You aren't happy." His voice was rough, but matter of fact.  
"Oh, I am Cam. I do love him you know."  
"Then why do you stay in this room all alone, hiding from the rest of them, unable to even smile?" He asked.  
"I have my regrets too Cameron, and my apprehensions. I wonder at the course of love. It is a strange thing, but it is love nonetheless, I have known since the moment I laid my eyes to his. he was the one that blew all other men away." She did smile then, a sweet smile just for Cam. "Perhaps one day the same thing will happen to you."  
Cam's voice came out in a mocking sneer:  
"The one that blew all other men away." He quoted, eyes glittering angrily "You and I both know that's bullshit Annie."  
"Says who Cam? Did you come mistaken that I'd be happier with someone else? Perhaps that someone should dare speak for himself."  
"Perhaps he's spoken so clearly that now he feels he must give up."  
"Ah, so do you come for the reason I dared hope you wouldn't." Annie sighed sadly, giving Cam a winsome smile.  
"Liar, you hoped I'd come, hoped someone would save you from this- this mockery." "Save me so true love, true, pure love prevails? When the darkness seems at it's strongest, the most black of night, Lo! The pure light of dawn shines through, a glistening corner of the rising sun, caught ever so slightly in the window frame, streaming through the drapes. The great hero Cameron riding in on his great white horse, so huge and tall, saving the poor damsel who has been tricked into marrying a great scoundrel, a rapscallion no-gooder, for reasons unknown, but likely have to do with blackmail ,or perhaps he forced her into it? Cam will sweep her out, ever so bravely, so she can marry into love, and the light will prevail!"  
Cam remained silent.  
"Except it doesn't work that way. Love can be one sided, and love can be unexpected. This is not a mockery Cameron. It's the real thing. It's been the only real thing so far."  
"How dare you say that?" He snapped.  
"I dare say it because it's true. You've always wanted to play the hero, even if it means changing the facts. How does it feel to know that right now you're playing the part of a villain?" Annie shrugged her shoulders and turned away at her question, pivoting on her heel, and lightly preening in the mirror. After a few moments Cam came up behind her, standing close enough to feel his heat, his body only millimetres away from her own. She watched him in the mirror as his gaze traveled downwards, so that he looked upon the whole of her. As his eyes swept across her shoulders, her back, they gleamed ferociously, so that she could practically feel their fire travelling through the course of her body. Her lips parted slightly, the beginning of a protest that caught far before it reached her throat.  
His voice came out hoarse as Annie stood completely still, paralyzed as his gaze on her made her heart race unexpectedly.  
"I am not the villain, but I daresay I'm playing an unexpected part." He said, brushing back one of the soft loose curls of her golden hair behind her ear, his fingers seeming to leave small shocks where they had lightly touched.  
"What do you mean?" Annie said, her voice in a controlled monotone as she attempted to gain control of the frantic racing of the blood through her veins , but she noticed that her face still flushed red.  
"Nothing important honey, nothing you'd want to hear. As for how I feel... Well, I feel as if a woman I loved very dearly has betrayed me and everyone I was close to. I feel as if my heart was thrown into a pit of spikes, and then put on ice to stop the bleeding, so it just lays there, useless, cold, numb, and dead. My stomach feels like it's being crushed in a vice, and everything else just hurts. All the time it hurts, and I. Can't. Stop. It. Does it hurt you too, Annie? I hope the guilt of what you've done plagues you at least a little bit, you have no clue how the blood on your hands plagues me. You have no clue how sometimes I feel guilty- for things you did- things you caused."  
"And what about your mistakes?" Annie said, turning to look up at him. Their gazes locked endlessly, his features softening, her breath quickening.  
Cam looked down, staring at her lips, her neck, the gleam in his eyes intensifying a hundred fold.  
Well, I suspect that where it concerns you, I'm not half done making them yet." He said softly.  
Then, moving down ever so slowly, he grasped her face in his hands and kissed her, right there in her wedding dress, only hours before her wedding. 


End file.
